Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, “drunk” and “slapping leaders” in leaked video

Footage has been released which appears to show President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, intoxicated, slapping leaders, and allegedly calling Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian Prime Minister, a “dictator.”

The footage, which also features Mr. Juncker dancing and pulling out leader’s ties, was recorded at a recent EU-Eastern Partnership summit in Latvia during May of 2015, but only surfaced on the Internet in recent days.

When Jean-Claude Juncker was installed in office, allegations and rumours surfaced about his lifestyle. Born in Luxembourg, which he led for 18 years, Juncker is on record as saying he thought it was time to discuss the “real Europe… , the Europe that was crafted and imagined by those who, after the Second World War, came back from the concentration camps and the battle fields, and created this political programme.”

Juncker was later implicated in a scandal involving widespread bugging by the Grand-duchy’s security services – the state intelligence service. Former head of the service, Marco Mille, allegedly recorded a conversation with Mr. Juncker using a microphone hidden in a wristwatch.

A parliamentary inquiry into the scandal was established to investigate claims that illegal recordings of politicians were made as part of a system of “favours and payments.” Mr. Juncker denied any wrongdoing, but the report’s conclusion said he should take responsibility for what happened, resulting in his resignation.

Reports of Mr. Juncker’s drinking habits and “abusive behaviour” surfaced in early 2007 when a document was leaked with minutes between Juncker and Marco Mille, the former head of Luxembourg’s security service.

The 14-page German-language document describes Mr. Juncker’s office as “smelling of stale tobacco” with an “alarming scent of alcohol … in the air,” going on to claim the leader as “half staggering.”

“Juncker was dead drunk, ordered himself two espresso and asked us to take a seat at the table. Without introductory words he began to insult Mille.”

Early in 2014, Jeroen Dijsasebloem, the Dutch finance minister who succeeded Mr. Juncker as President of the European Commission, described him as a “heavy smoker and drinker.” Mr. Juncker denied that he had a problem with alcohol and dismissed the leaked report.